Animal-World > Freshwater Fish > Puffers - Pufferfish > Spotted Green Pufferfish

Spotted Green PufferfishSpotted Green Puffer ~ Green Spotted Puffer ~ Spotted Puffer

Family: Tetraodontidae

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Tetraodon nigroviridisPhoto © Animal-World: Courtesy David Brough

     In general freshwater puffers are rarer than saltwater puffers, but the Spotted Green Puffer is one of the most commonly available... and this fish is a most popular attraction!

     The Spotted Green Puffer is a very cute adorable little fish. It is very playful, active, and curious making it a joy to watch. It has a great personality as well and will come to recognize its owner, getting excited when it sees you.

     Although this puffer will do well if kept singly as it can be an aggressive fin-nipper, it can also be kept with others of its own kind as well as other species. Be certain that for a community setting you choose large non-aggressive tank mates and a good sized aquarium.

     Provide plants and rockwork arranged in such a way that they break the line of sight and offer hiding places, but still provide open areas swimming. The natural habitat of this fish is in fresh to brackish waters. You can see on the distribution map below where it has been discovered. Like most brackish water fish, it can be acclimated to a full saltwater environment. Some hobbyists believe this is the best environment for it as it matures..

For more Information on keeping this fish see:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Freshwater Aquarium

Distribution:      The Spotted Green Puffers are found in Asia; Sri Lanka to Indonesia and north to China.They inhabit freshwater to brackish coastal estuaries; streams, rivers, and floodplains where they are found singly or in small groups.

     NOTE: It is important that you distinguish which pufferfish you are purchasing as their water requirements vary considerably. The Spotted Green Puffer Tetraodon nigroviridis is often confused with its close relatives the Green Puffer or Ceylon Puffer Tetraodon fluviatilis, as well as the Freshwater Spotted Puffer Tetraodon schoutedeni.
     Though all three are spotted and have very similar coloration, the Spotted Green Puffer has a more rounded ball shaped body while the Green Puffer's body is more elongated. The Spotted Green Puffer and the Green Puffer are readily available in the industry, while the Freshwater Spotted Puffer reportedly hasn't been available in the industry for a number of years.

Status:      These fish are not endangered.

Description:      The Spotted Green Puffer has a stout rounded body shape with small spines. The face is very cute, having a smallish mouth topped by slightly bulging eyes and a broad forehead . Like many of the pufferfish, the coloring of the Spotted Green Puffer can vary. The adult is a beautiful rich green on top with dark spots and a whitish belly. In juveniles the green is less colorful.
     Pufferfish have the ability to 'puff' themselves up with water or air if threatened. When they inflate, their spines protrude outward and this apparently helps keep them from being eaten. Another defense of many puffer species is to produce toxic substances in their flesh that is poisonous if eaten. The Pufferfish can be quite long lived in the aquarium, many living for 10 or more years.

Size - Weight:      These fish can grow up to 6 3/4 inches (17 cm).

Care and feeding:      The Spotted Green Puffers are omnivores, though a large part of their diet is meaty foods. In their natural environment they will eat various invertebrates, crustaceans and mollusks, but they also eat some vegetation.They are not difficult to feed as they will usually eat a variety of flake, frozen, and live foods including shrimp, ghost shrimp (gut-loaded), bloodworms, freeze-dried krill, crabs, brine shrimp, and snails.
     Puffers have strong teeth that grow throughout their lives, so are prone to overgrown teeth. Offer hard shelled live food often to keep the teeth worn down. Feeding snails daily will help to wear down the teeth. If the teeth get too long, they will be unable to eat, requiring the owner to clip the teeth.
     Since puffers do not have gill covers or scales, they are thought to be more susceptible to diseases, nitrite, nitrate and ammonia levels. Like all puffers, this puffer is not a good fish to cycle an aquarium with. Also because they usually don't eat all of their food (messy eaters!), these fish will usually put more load on the aquarium filtration requiring more frequent water changes and better maintenance in general. A generous weekly water change of 30% to 50% is the standard recommendation for a puffer aquarium.
     A 20 gallon aquarium will work well for this puffer, however if you want to keep more than one or some other species with them, a well planted 50 - 60 gallon aquarium is better. Provide plenty of plants and rockwork for retreats as well as open areas for swimming. This puffer fish is a freshwater to brackish species and adding aquarium salt is suggested. But like many of the brackish species, the Spotted Green Puffer can be acclimated to hard, alkaline fresh water or it can be acclimated to a saltwater environment.

Water Region: Top, Middle, Bottom:      The Spotted Green Puffer will swim in the bottom and middle areas of your aquarium.

Acceptable Water Conditions:      Temp: 75 ° - 82 ° F (24 - 28 °C)
     pH: 7.5 to 8.5
     Hardness: 9 - 19 dH (medium to medium hard)

Social Behaviors:      Like all the pufferfish, the Green Spotted Puffer can vary greatly in temperament from one individual to another. They are generally regarded as aggressive fin-nippers and often kept singly. However they can be kept in a community setting with others of their own species as well as other large non-aggressive species. In a community setting, be sure there is plenty of room and that the aquarium is well planted. It can also have a variety of other decor such as rocks and roots. Place the decor in a manner that breaks their line of site and provides plenty of retreats for all the fish.

Sexual Differences:      Sexual differences are unknown.

Breeding/Reproduction:      Has not been bred commercially in captivity, but possibly bred successfully by hobbyists. Research indicates that the female will lay approximately 200 eggs on a smooth, protected surface. They are also known to guard the nest, notably the male.

Availability:      The Spotted Green Puffers are commonly available.

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Latest Comments
I just got 2 green spotted puffers. One is slightly bigger than the other. I named the bigger one Percy, and the smaller one Nico (yeah, kind of a Percy Jackson fan.) Nico seems to like following Percy around, I guess because since Percy is bigger, Nico must think he's the leader or something. I love them so much. Their favorite activities include swimming in and out of their plastic rock hide out thing, and chasing a laser light. Hannah 2010-02-09
I just bought a green spotted puffer on saturday. For some reason I had an intention to name or call him Guppy. So of course I did, to find that (I'm age nine) I had no money to afford food for him for the few next days once I stepped out of Wal-mart. They were treating them pretty bad there. There,was three green spotted puffer fish left with three eels and a skinny, white, red-eyed, dead gold fish stuck to the filter. I studied the puffer fish. I saw one dead, another laying on a green plant with no spots, and the other one happily foaming the open area in the tank. I picked the energetic one. The worker didn't know much about puffers. He simply scooped it up with the net, brought it to the counter, wrote a bunch of numbers on it, puffed air into the bag with his mouth, tied it, and then handed it to me. He didn't tell me if it was a girl or boy (I decided it was a boy), whether I should put it in a tank or bowl, or when the bag will run out of air. I kept it for saturday, sunday, and half of monday without food. Eventually, we visited another wal-mart. Shrimp food today, he is peacefully in the tank after we removed the betta because of its actions. Daleena 2010-02-08
Hello,I am Muhd Shahril. I want to ask question about my Green Spotter Puffer Fish! Did my puffer eat spirulina flakes?Thank! Muhd.Shahril 2010-02-07
Green Spotted Puffers need to be in a tank thats about 74-78 degrees. I think they will eat about any kind of tropical fish food. You need Aquarium salt for them based on how big the tank is too. Your puffer should be lively and playful at first and might stay close to your tank heater. Most fish float when they are sick, ate too much, or dead. If your fish is floating and it's still alive then it may be sick or you fed it too much. I suggest you only give it a teenie tiny pinch of food every other day. These do very well with others of its own type and have to have some hiding places. Karen 2010-01-24
I had just bought another spotted green puffer from Walmart. The poor thing was in an empty tank with tons of food and algae in there. The tank also had another puffer with a broken right eye. The puffer I have gotten was just sitting in a corner looking dead. I do not think the workers knew how to take care of the puffers... Karen age 9 2010-01-24
Some of the coolest comments:
I have had two green spotted puffers for close to two years now and they are so much fun to watch. I originally started with one that I put in a 72 gal bow front aquarium with several much larger aggressive fish thinking that he should do well. The next morning I woke up to a group of large fish huddling in the corner looking much the worse for wear with my little puffer happily swimming around the rest of the tank. Instead of returning the vicious little cartoon character I set up a 29 gallon tank for him and got him a tank mate both of which get along great. I eventually bumped the tank up to brackish conditions and have since moved it up to a full marine tank, where they seem the happiest so far, and added other saltwater fish and they all get along well. I do make it a point to keep them well fed. My little Maroon clown fish even hangs out with them because no one in the tank will mess with them, not even my larger Niger Triggerfish. I'm in the process of setting up a 100 gallon saltwater tank to move them all to. Mike 2009-11-29
To the person with the comment about the belly changing to black. A friend of mine had a spotted puffer for a couple of years that would regularly change his belly from cream to black, like a chameleon they change color as they see fit(so I'm told). I just bought 2 spotted and a figure 8 today, very excited to have these little guys. nick 2009-04-19
Comments Dr Jungle REALLY Likes to Hear!
What a useful website this is! - I love puffers and recently purchased a GSP for my living room aquarium. Unfortunately, it was immediately aggressive towards by Congo tetras and Rams (killing one and injuring another + it also attacked one of my horse faced loaches). I moved the tetras and other rams to another tank and the GSP appears to have settled down now alongside my kribensis, golden algae eater and the horse faced loaches). Despite this, it is still my favourite fish and can't wait to get a few more!! Angus Burns 2009-07-11
I just bought 4 of these guys. I need to get a bigger tank apparently, lol, but they seem really neat. I can't wait to get a bigger tank. Thanks for all the info! I would have never known about the teeth getting too big. But I like em, greens my color and green bay is my team. I'm gonna buy a little helment for them to swim in! BOW CHICKA YEA! Thanks Marcus 2009-07-10
My first puffer died within 3 days. Got another within that time, but the first was dead before they got acquainted. The second is strong but I learned a lot here about water change. I am feeding flake food and have it with a bottom feeder and an algae eater. I got another puffer yesterday and she doesn't seem like she's gonna make it. The 2nd one bit me and my husband didn't believe it until he read this site. It's only a 5 gallon tank. We just want a fun aquarium and don't plan on adding any others. Suggestions.. jenna jenna d 2008-10-26

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